The advertisement is inviting but vague - ''Escape to the island that time forgot - a pristine barrier island off the northwest coast of Florida.'' The only clue to the island's whereabouts is the name of a town, Carabelle, which the map shows is on the coast, west of the big bend on the Gulf of Mexico.
A telephone call reveals some details. However, the name of the island and its short distance from the mainland hardly evoke escape and solitude - Dog Island, three and a half miles from Carabelle, 50 miles southwest of Tallahassee. And yet the trip over is by passenger ferry - no cars are hauled -and the visitor must buy everything in Carabelle but water for the stay on the island. There are no stores, no restaurants, nothing to buy. No telephone either.
Dog Island is indeed secluded and everyone on the island wants to keep it that way. The advertisement, which was placed by the only accommodation there, the Pelican Inn, cannot give the name or location of the island because the inn's deed prohibits it from doing so. The inn fits in nicely with the island's quietude. It has only eight small apartments.
The island is ideal for those who want to shell, swim, take photographs of unobstructed sunrises and sunsets, hike to tidal marshes and freshwater ponds, walk along clean white beaches, seek out birds (200 species during the year) and study plants (391 species of native and naturalized plants). Most of the seven-mile-long island, 1,100 acres of its 1,800 acres, is in the Jeff Lewis Wilderness Preserve. About 100 cottages -in use during the summer - dot the gulf and St. George Sound (known as the bay) side in the central part of the island. The east and west ends are undeveloped. The permanent community consists of three retired couples and two or three other people.
The few visitors have their favorite seasons. Bird watchers like spring and fall for the migrations. Those who want solitude prefer the winter. During a recent visit, hikes to the east and west ends were made without encountering anyone on the beach or along the tidal marshes. On the walk to the west end, a reddish egret, tricolor heron and great egret were seen fishing at low tide within a few feet of each other. The path passed a pond where sparrows, blackbirds and towhee were spotted. Along the beach at the west end, the stumps seen in the water were the tap roots of trees that were once part of a forest. And the foundation of a lighthouse that once stood here is now investigated by scuba divers 125 yards offshore.
The island, which was formed some 6,000 years ago from sediments transported by the Apalachicola River system, changes shape with the alternating periods of erosion and sand deposition. Now, the sand is moving from the center to the west and east ends.
On a trip to the east end, which begins with a ride in the Pelican Inn's van to the end of the single-lane sand road, the various habitats, plants and trees can be seen - and a bit of the island's history. Along what is called the Jeep Trail are slash pines with horizontal cuts in their trunks. The cuts were made by turpentiners, men who gathered the resin from the trees for turpentine. From 1915 to 1930 the owner used the island for this purpose. The resin dripped into pans at the base of the tree and were dipped out regularly. Some of the pans still lie alongside the trees. The island has three types of plants - marine, terrestrial and palustrine, plants that grow in the slough depressions of nontidal wetlands. The black mangrove on the island is the northernmost occurrence of the plant. Two species of orchid, the snowy and the ladies' tresses, can be found, and the 15 species of fern include the netted, southern, clubmoss, cinnamon, Virginia chain climbing and marsh fern. The beach dunes are characterized by sea oats, rosemary and oak scrub. In one section, the dunes reach 50 feet in height.
Birds are everywhere. Many are permanent residents - heron, egrets, terns and a variety of shore birds like the snowy plover and black-bellied plover, ruddy turnstone, marbled godwit and the ever-present willet. Among the wintering birds are six kinds of sparrows and four kinds of wrens. The Carolina wren is a year-round resident. For the spring migration, birders visit Dog Island from the end of February through early April; the fall migration is from September through November.
Shells are also abundant, from the half-inch butterfly in a delicate yellow shade to the 16-inch lightning whelk that one visitor lugged to the inn in one hand while carrying an assortment of smaller shells in a bag in the other. There are augers and arks, including the fragile stiff pin shell; heart cockles of all sizes; nutmegs, figs and olives; the Florida fighting conch; moon and slipper shells and the apple murex and banded tulip shell; the jingle shell that is used for wind chimes and the Florida worm shell, which is actually a snail. Daniel Tonsmeire, who manages the inn, recommends shelling on the bay side where the waves are gentle and do not batter shells. The many birds in the tidal areas leave behind fresh shells. After a day's birding, shelling, hiking or swimming, a half hour's fishing can supply dinner. The inn has rods and reels for dockside fishing and surf-casting, and Mr. Tonsmeire will demonstrate net-casting for those who want to try mullet. One evening at dusk, three casts of the net brought up a dozen mullet.
